Traffic Signals

The City Council on Tuesday allocated $2.1 million in leftover federal stimulus funds to replace 13 traffic signals on Glenoaks Boulevard east and west of downtown. The stimulus funds are from public works projects approved last year that came in under budget due to highly competitive construction bids. WHAT IT MEANS Glenoaks was chosen for the upgrades because many of its signals were constructed more than 30 years ago, and need updated technology. Bicycle improvements The council allocated about $100,000 in Los Angeles County transportation money to support a series of bicycle and pedestrian improvements in the city.

GLENDALE — City officials extended an agreement with Glendale on Tuesday to continue maintaining that city’s traffic-related devices. Burbank has provided traffic signal maintenance for Glendale since 1993 to cut down on costs and to increase efficiency, Assistant Public Works Director Ken Johnson said. “Back in the ’70s and early ’80s, the county of Los Angeles maintained Glendale’s traffic signals,” he said. “Then Glendale went private, and in the late ’80s there was a move for Pasadena, Burbank and Glendale to provide [a service]

GLENDALE — Concerns about pedestrian safety prompted city officials to install traffic signals at an intersection near Allan F. Daily High School last week, which are expected to be operational in about two weeks. The quantity of pedestrian traffic around the North Kenwood Street and Wilson Avenue intersection was one of the primary considerations in deciding to install traffic signals, said Steve Zurn, director of the city’s Public Works Department. Pedestrians in the area include students going to and from Daily High School, which is at 220 N. Kenwood St., on the same block that runs into Wilson Avenue; people entering and exiting the Glendale Unified School District’s administration building, which is next to Daily High on Jackson Street; and residents, Zurn said.

Tim Willert SOUTHWEST GLENDALE -- On the heels of a study to determine parking and traffic effects on proposed street closures, the city is considering whether to remove medians along Brand Boulevard south of Colorado Street. "Obviously [removing medians] would be a positive in terms of access to Brand,"said Jano Baghdanian, the city's traffic and transportation administrator. "The problem with removing the medians is we've had problems with pedestrian safety at uncontrolled intersections."

DOWNTOWN — Glendale Police Lt. Carl Povilaitis called on officers Friday from a hand-held radio in the city’s Traffic Management Center to control traffic on busy streets along the major shopping centers, where customers were out to get the best bargains of the year. He relayed traffic directions to the officers as he watched TV monitors inside the center display heavy traffic congestion on streets circling the Americana at Brand, Glendale Galleria and freeway exits.

Recently, I was coming home on the freeway and noticed there had been traffic signals installed across all three lanes of the freeway (?Meters going in on the 210,? Jan. 30). This appalled me. It set me to thinking. First I want to take up the ?speed bump? subject. I know everyone is familiar with speed bumps. They slow you down. Mostly, they slow down the people who drive slow anyway, and the Fire Department. The people who think putting a speed bump every 100 or 200 feet is a good idea are wrong.

The intersection at Central and Goode avenues was closed for several hours Sunday morning after a vehicle struck a utility box, cutting power to the traffic signals. At about 9:15 a.m., a taxicab traveling north on Central Avenue and an Audi sedan traveling west on Goode Avenue collided, said Glendale Police Officer Vincent Jackson. The Audi knocked over a utility box before coming to rest alongside an office building. The driver of the Audi, a 24-year-old woman from Glendale, was taken to Glendale Adventist Hospital with minor injuries, Jackson said.

Tim Willert ELECTRIC RATES WHAT HAPPENED The council introduced an ordinance that would restructure Glendale Water and Power electric rates to more closely reflect the cost of service and seasonal price changes in the energy market and encourage conservation. WHAT IT MEANS The changes in the ordinance would not cost or generate any extra revenue for the city. The cost-of-service adjustments would mean most residential customers would see a small reduction in their bills, as much as $2 a month.

It is a sad and irrefutable fact that Glendale has become the center of homicidal maniac drivers of mostly expensive, high-powered cars who threaten our life and limb. The solution to the problem offered by our learned city fathers/mothers to the mayhem caused by these people is to “make a study” with U.C. Berkeley and ask the aforementioned maniacs to be polite and careful not to kill us. It is time to admit that this approach has been a failure, and that these misfits are becoming even more dangerous with time.

It is a sad and irrefutable fact that Glendale has become the center of homicidal maniac drivers of mostly expensive, high-powered cars who threaten our life and limb. The solution to the problem offered by our learned city fathers/mothers to the mayhem caused by these people is to “make a study” with U.C. Berkeley and ask the aforementioned maniacs to be polite and careful not to kill us. It is time to admit that this approach has been a failure, and that these misfits are becoming even more dangerous with time.

A $3.2-million project for intersection and rail improvements at the rail crossing at Buena Vista and Van Owen streets is scheduled to begin in March after more than five years of trying to accumulate enough funding for the work. The project has been on the books since 2005 and is tapping up to eight funding sources to break ground, city officials said. “It's something that's been a long time coming and I'm ready to start construction as soon as possible,” Burbank Assistant Public Works Director Ken Johnson said.

GLENDALE — As shoppers from throughout the region today head out to Glendale's major shopping destinations, police have stepped up their efforts to deal with the influx of traffic on streets. The city will deploy 15 officers to deal with traffic issues near the major shopping centers, including the Glendale Galleria and Americana at Brand, police Lt. Carl Povilaitis said. Another officer will have a birds-eye view from the Traffic Management Center of the busy shopping center and will advise fellow officers on the streets how to keep traffic flowing.

The intersection at Central and Goode avenues was closed for several hours Sunday morning after a vehicle struck a utility box, cutting power to the traffic signals. At about 9:15 a.m., a taxicab traveling north on Central Avenue and an Audi sedan traveling west on Goode Avenue collided, said Glendale Police Officer Vincent Jackson. The Audi knocked over a utility box before coming to rest alongside an office building. The driver of the Audi, a 24-year-old woman from Glendale, was taken to Glendale Adventist Hospital with minor injuries, Jackson said.

The City Council on Tuesday allocated $2.1 million in leftover federal stimulus funds to replace 13 traffic signals on Glenoaks Boulevard east and west of downtown. The stimulus funds are from public works projects approved last year that came in under budget due to highly competitive construction bids. WHAT IT MEANS Glenoaks was chosen for the upgrades because many of its signals were constructed more than 30 years ago, and need updated technology. Bicycle improvements The council allocated about $100,000 in Los Angeles County transportation money to support a series of bicycle and pedestrian improvements in the city.

CENTRAL GLENDALE — City officials outlined a plan Wednesday night for a proposed Riverdale Drive and Maple Street corridor, which includes cycling, road and sidewalk improvements, in an effort to better connect city facilities and increase walking and bicycling. The corridor would run from Riverdale Drive between San Fernando Road and Central Avenue, as well as Maple Street between Central Avenue and Verdugo Road. Improvements would include wheelchair ramps, painted new crosswalks, curb extensions, roundabouts, street markings, new trees, streets signs and bicycle push buttons for cyclists, said Kevin Carter, a Glendale Public Works civil engineer.

Embarrassed by engineering shortfall I completely agree with Robert Leff of La Crescenta. His comment in the Friday, Feb. 13, in “Our Readers Write” is overdue. I am a registered civil engineer; however, I do not work for Caltrans (I work in the water field). Those traffic signals should be designed and located by an engineer. It is embarrassing to me that a fellow engineer would place those “…stop lights on freeways…” as the writer referred to them.

I do not agree with Councilman Ara Najarian regarding mitigation of our traffic problems (“A six-point plan to improve traffic safety,” Community Commentary, Jan. 28). Perhaps my view is too simplistic. The answer is always meetings and requests for grant money or other money — this won’t solve the problem. Respecting our laws only happens when it’s punitive enough for all who do not respect our laws. I like heavy fines/jail time for speeders and loss of license for those who drive through a crosswalk when pedestrians are crossing.

We’ve been meeting like this for an entire year now, and I must say, it has gone by amazingly fast. Today marks the fifty-second consecutive Friday I’ve had the privilege of putting my thoughts in print for Valley Sun readers to read or ignore, agree or disagree with, and surprisingly often comment on via e-mails to me or to the Sun’s intrepid city editor, Robin Goldsworthy. As I’ve mentioned here before, I’m a writer by profession — albeit my usual day-to-day writing is advertising/marketing “copy.